I love Khem. I really do. He gets his face bashed in on a regular basis so I don't have to.

But for all his "Yes, master", and "Watch your back, little Sith", I can't help but notice that he follows me everywhere at a distressingly short distance.

Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but it makes trying to click on quest givers and archaeology nodes something of an unnecessary roulette. Do I get to click on the rubat crystal, or-- nope. "I HUNGER".

Of course you do, big guy. Of course you do...

Is there any way I can get my companion to follow me at a slightly longer distance, or otherwise resolve my companion's tendency to make it hard to click on things?

Heh. I have the opposite problem with Vector, one of the Agent companions. He follows so far behind that the mob is often dead before he gets to hit it.
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LessPop_MoreFizz♦Jan 4 '12 at 1:49

@LessPop_MoreFixx: One thing I have found is to not click the companion Attack (Ctrl+1) until you are close enough to attack and they have caught up with you too. As soon as you give that order you are marked instantly in combat and your Sprint is disabled. That makes the companions take even longer to attack.
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MufasaJan 4 '12 at 4:04

I've found that increasing the max camera zoom (Located in the Preferences under Controls) to around 40% helps a lot with this. Being able to zoom out makes it much easier to click on what you mean to click on, and generally makes the game feel much less claustrophobic.